Another Step Forward
by Klutzygirl33
Summary: Set post "Berlin" with speculation for "Revenge". In the aftermath of what happened, Tony and Ziva take another step forward in their relationship. Tony/Ziva


**Disclaimer**: I don't own NCIS and never will. No copyright infringement intended.

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Just about to head home, Gibbs stopped dead in his tracks when his cell phone rang. Ducky, who had stopped up to see him, also stopped walking when he answered the phone. "Yes, this is Agent Gibbs. What? I'll be there as soon as I can." He hung up the phone and the look on his face chilled Ducky to the core.

"What's the matter?"

"We have to go. That was the hospital. Tony and Ziva were in a car accident." Already he had a feeling in his gut that it hadn't actually been an accident, but they'd worry about that once he saw his two agents. Gibbs and Ducky headed to the hospital as fast as they possibly could.

McGee, Abby, and Vance showed up within an hour and a half. Jimmy wanted to come in, but after learning that the driver who hit Tony and Ziva was dead, Ducky told him to head to work and he'd meet him there to do the autopsy.

About an hour after that, Tony woke up with a gasp, finally coherent. "Boss, how's Ziva? It was her side that got hit." He was terrified she was dead and tried to get up to do something, but Gibbs held him down.

"Stop moving or you're going to hurt yourself more. You're injured too. She was hurt, but she's going to be fine." Gibbs wasn't surprised Tony was that worried about Ziva. He wondered if thing between them was finally going to go somewhere.

"How bad is it?" He guessed he had a concussion, but the pain meds seemed to be masking his other injuries.

"You have a concussion, numerous cuts and bruises, and a broken rib. Ziva also has a concussion, broken ribs, a sprained wrist, and bruises. You're both pretty lucky. Do you remember anything about who hit you?" Gibbs wanted to get to the bottom of this as fast as he could.

Tony shook his head. "I didn't even see the car until a few seconds before it hit us. You think this was on purpose?"

Gibbs nodded. "I do. What are you doing?" he questioned when he noticed Tony trying to get out of the bed again. He glared at the agent, but it didn't seem to stop him.

"I need to see her and make sure she's okay. I'm not going to let you stop me." He had to check for himself that Ziva wasn't dead. And he was tired of pretending now. It was time to finally admit his feelings for her.

Gibbs sighed. "At least let me get you a wheelchair. This is non-negotiable, Anthony."

Tony glared at him, but reluctantly conceded. He was willing to do anything to see Ziva, even use a wheelchair that he didn't need. Gibbs parked him right in front of Ziva's hand and then left them alone. Once he was sure his boss was gone, Tony picked up her hand and just held it. He didn't have to wait too long and sighed in relief when she woke up nearly half an hour later.

"Tony?" she murmured.

"Hey, baby. You doing okay?" Tony was terrified he was still going to lose her even though the doctor had been in and said they'd both recover.

"Feel like I'm floating. You okay?" She just wanted to go back to sleep but needed to make sure that he was unhurt.

"I'm going to be fine. I'll be right here when you wake up again. I'm not leaving, Ziva." The answer seemed to satisfy her before the pain meds pulled her back under.

By mid-afternoon, both of them were driving the nurses crazy and the doctor agreed to discharge them. Tony and Ziva were going stir crazy and needed to get back to work to get to the bottom of what had occurred the previous night.

Ziva was sitting on the bed when Tony walked in to her room. "Do you feel any better yet?" She was worried he was hurting and refusing to her because he didn't want to worry her.

He nodded. "How about you?" Tony took a deep breath and tried to prepare himself for what he was about to say. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to be rejected, but he was still terrified it would happen.

She eyed him warily after she finished answering. "What is it, Tony? Something's wrong."

He moved closer to her and just smiled. "Nothing's wrong. This just helped me realize again that I can't hold back anymore. I love you, Ziva."

Ziva grinned at him from ear to ear. "I was about to tell you before we were hit. I figured the moment was lost once I woke up." She stupidly felt like crying, but refused to give in to the tears.

Tony brushed the hair out of her face and beamed back. "Oh yeah?"

She nodded. "I love you, too. I'm tired of pretending that I don't."

A still beaming Tony leaned in and kissed her. She happily kissed right back and they were still in that position two minutes later when Gibbs found him. They pulled apart as fast as they could, but both knew they had been busted. "Hi?" Tony didn't know what to say.

Gibbs just rolled his eyes. "It's about time you two pulled your heads of your asses." Ziva snorted at that comment and started to laugh, but stopped when it hurt her ribs. "Just keep it from affecting your work, will you?" It had taken them long enough to finally reach this point and wasn't surprised that Berlin had apparently changed things between them.

"Will do, Boss. Thanks for everything." Tony would have hugged him, but he didn't want to leave Ziva's side. The accident had really fucked with him and he was sure she felt the same way.

"Now let's get out of here." He ignored Tony and Ziva holding hands the whole way out of the hospital and helped both of them into his car. When they arrived at the Navy Yard, the three of them headed straight to the morgue to see Ducky.

He hugged both of them. "Glad to see you're doing well." Ducky hadn't wanted to leave the hospital, but this autopsy had been a priority to get to the bottom of who had gone after Tony and Ziva.

"We're happy about that too." Tony wanted to grab Ziva's hand, but resisted because he didn't want to do anything like that in front of Gibbs again.

After talking with Ducky, the two headed to Abby's lab to get any updates from her. Ziva laced her hand with Tony's and listened to their friend talk. Of course, she immediately noticed they were holding hands and stared. "Are you two…?"

Tony nodded. "We are." He wasn't surprised when Abby squealed and launched herself at them.

"I'm so excited! How did this happen? I want to know all the details."

"Can you let go, please? We may be on pain medication, but you hug rather hard and this hurts." Ziva winced before Abby backed away, apologizing.

When they got back up the bullpen, Tony was so exhausted and in pain that he actually laid down on the floor to relax and Ziva followed his example. "This is actually so comfortable I may fall asleep," he informed her.

"It's uncomfortable, but I wouldn't mind sleeping here myself." She yawned and would have turned to face him if her ribs didn't protest.

"Wish we were in that nice bed in Berlin again." Tony was honestly surprised he hadn't confessed his feelings then.

She nodded her in agreement. "That was nice. Comfortable, too."

There was silence for a minute or so before he spoke up. "I don't think I'm going to be able to get up off this floor. This was a bad idea."

Gibbs and McGee walked in and stood over them. "You need help? You should both go home. It's been a long week for you both."

"Ziva can come with me. That is, if she wants to." He thanked McGee when his co-worker helped him stand him up.

"I want to," Ziva assured him.

Gibbs dropped them off at Tony's apartment and then headed back to work. They needed to get to Bodnar as soon as possible because he had made the situation even more personal than it had already been. He wasn't happy that Tony and Ziva had been injured and could have died.

"If I wasn't in so much pain, I'd clean up this place," Ziva murmured when she slipped into Tony's bed.

He turned to face her, regretting the decision immediately because of the pain that flared up within his own body. "You'll be able to do it as soon as we heal."

"As soon as we heal, I'll show you some of those favors I offer." Her eyes had closed, but she opened them to see his reaction.

"I look forward to it." He kissed her again and then rolled back over into his original position because the new one just wasn't working with his injuries.

Tony and Ziva – along with the team – had even more reasons to go after Bodnar now, but they'd get him soon. The two had each other now and with their feelings out in the open, nothing was going to tear them apart. However, this situation was going to escalate out of control even more, something they weren't prepared for. It was going to get worse before it got better.


End file.
